800k Committed to Break Global South Bottleneck by Chris Proulx
For over a decade, a consensus was emerging that the inefficiencies in financial systems waste enormous amounts of time for both funders and nonprofits alike; and was a major bottleneck to advancing more locally led development. Humentum and our partners recognized that establishing standardized accounting and financial reports—particularly in Global South countries—could bring about major improvements. Indeed, most countries lack standard guidance for the preparation of non-profit financial statements.
Since 2019, Humentum and their partners have been designing a solution: INPAS, the International Non-Profit Accounting Standard, which originated from IFR4NPO, the International Financial Reporting for Non-Profit Organizations project. The standard is ready to be published late 2025. The standard, together with the Practice Guide supplement on harmonized donor financial reports, will meet this moment of funding disruption with new, long-term solution that will increase accountability and transparency.
Our coalition knew we had a solution, but in the midst of the collapse of USAID and other bilateral funding, we worried about how to launch it to drive adoption. We needed dedicated time to convene face-to-face, to align our strategies, and develop a compelling proposal for foundation funding. Unfortunately, securing financial support for this type of situation is difficult to do as social system infrastructure does not fit neatly into most funder’s thematic silos. Fortunately, a supportive funder stepped forward with a crucial $50,000 grant.
This grant enabled us to unite our coalition of over two dozen NGOs, funders, and networks in both DC and Nairobi. Through intensive collaborative sessions, we developed a cohesive adoption and funding plan.
The results exceeded our expectations: We secured $800,000 in new commitments upon the close of the meetings—a 16x return on the initial investment. More importantly, this funding will enable us to launch a demonstration project with NGOs and their funders in Ethiopia and Kenya; two key countries expected to be early adopters of the new standard, creating a model we hope to scale across the Global South.
Link Humentum to https://humentum.org
Link INPAS to: https://www.ifr4npo.org/inpas/